“A memorable animal encounter on public lands”

SEASON 2, WEEK 5

October 11, 2018

Join us on Twitter with the hashtag #NatureWritingChallenge to discuss and share the topic Thursday at 8:30 CST. This post was created in one hour specifically for this challenge.

I wasn’t going to write an essay this week. I had no motivation because I don’t have but a few animal encounter stories to tell. I told my favorite, and most memorable, last season and you can read about it here. I thought about this topic all week and a few things came to mind:

I don’t go wildlife watching often enough

I haven’t been to many places with true wildlife

Maybe I need to travel more?

I was just about to forego the writing and just share the old topic when I got a message from Douglas Scott asking me to host the chat for this week. So, I’m here, in real time, one hour before the chat piecing together another memorable animal encounter that nearly slipped my mind.

It was August 2014 in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was my first time visiting, though I had driven through Colorado several times. The motive for the trip from Texas to Colorado was to help a friend move into a new place near Fort Collins and then leave her and head west into Rocky Mountain National Park.

I entered the park on a sunny morning. Viewpoints were stopped at, pictures were taken. A lake was encountered in all of the mountain glory. I have a lot of trouble with the details of this trip, but I believe it was Lake Irene. The day continued on as the views leveled off and camp was set up at the Stillwater Campground on Lake Granby. A nap was had and then an adventure towards Steamboat Springs happened, with a turnaround way before getting there. The night was illuminated by a bright moon and it made for an awesome scene over the lake, which was visible from the tent. I do remember how amazing that detail was, so there is that.

Another amazing aspect I recall was waking up and wanting to go back up into the mountains/park and along the way seeing elk grazing in valley meadow. What a sight. Those elk stopped me in my tracks, and I had to pull over and just sit there a minute. It was the perfect morning - the sun was just coming up, the grass was a brilliant green, the elk majestic as all hell, and not many people around at all. It was a moment to just feel alive but also feel very insignificant in the best way. It was the only time I’ve stopped to see elk, really, and one of the only animal encounters I’ve had on public lands. I guess it’s time to get out more!

The #NatureWritingChallenge is simple: A topic is tweeted and participants have an hour to create, edit, and post an essay. It's designed to create spontaneous, real, and raw content. Douglas Scott from The Outdoor Society started this challenge and all relevant info can be found using the twitter hashtag #NatureWritingChallenge